Travel, Travel, Travel

We got home from the gymnastics meet around 12:00 am.
The next morning, we had a flight that left at 6:28 am. Here are the girls on their second super early morning. We had to be out the door by 5:15 again!


Just as we were fixing to take off....

This is the part where I talk about blessings.
As we've begun this whole new adventure, we have been immensely blessed.
It started out with months and months of my searching for and applying for jobs for my husband.
We went to South Carolina and he interviewed for a job which they offered to him. After the interview, my husband and I went to the temple, and as we prayed about that job, it just didn't feel right, or peaceful. As we prayed about it, we just didn't feel like this would be the right job for him, and the right place for our family.

The next week he interviewed for a job in Florida. From the very first phone call, this one just felt better.
After my husband interviewed, we fasted and prayed together as a family to know if he should accept the job if it was offered.
This experience has really provided some growth for our family - this is the first real family fast we've done together, and since it affects us all, it has been pretty important. As we talked about our impressions, and feelings after we'd fasted together, we all felt excited and peaceful about the decision.
When they offered the job, after some negotiation, we said yes.

I began spending hours online searching for housing.
Apparently, the majority of the homes in Florida for sale, are short sales or forclosures. As such, it takes on average 3-6 months to purchase a home. I stopped focusing on homes for sale, and started looking for rentals. Those options were pretty bleak. We had such a narrow list of homes to choose from. What to do?

As we traveled to Florida to house hunt, we started with a prayer as a family, and continued to ask for guidance and direction - asking for Heavenly Father's hellp in guiding us to a home that would be a good fit for our family, and possibly be an answer to someone else's prayers as well.
After 2 flights, we arrived Saturday afternoon.
We were welcomed with a deluge. A little on the scary side, but luckily my husband was driving :)
We drove around for a while. Then collapsed back at the hotel.

On Sunday, we headed to church.
Everyone was so excited to meet us. I'd made a few phone calls in the previous weeks, trying to find out about gymnastics, piano, schools etc. and talked to a few of the ladies, seeking their recommendations. Apparently, news of our coming had spread. We sat down and were immediately asked if we were the new family moving into town. Yep - that's us!

Someone had mentioned that some of the ward members were moving away, and we were introduced.
That afternoon, we stopped by their houses, and drove around the area trying to get a little more acquainted with everything.

We were appreciative of the Bishop inviting our family to dinner that evening...he rescued us from a night of frozen meat pies and pb&j.

We met with a realtor bright and early Monday morning, and spent most of the day driving around with her and viewing rental homes.
We saw so many different houses, but ultimately realized that we liked the first 2 (the church member's homes) the best.

After lunch, we grabbed our stuff and headed out to find a beach, and some fun. Enough with the houses.
Several people had recommeded a beach that let you drive right down almost to the water. We were amazed.
While it started to rain when we rolled into town, I LOVE tropical rain because it is always so WARM. Mmmmm
We splashed in the waves, and played in the ocean - it was really almost perfect. And then we started seeing lightening, and decided maybe we should get out and head back to the hotel.

We couldn't believe that the beach had driving lanes - all the way down to the water! So wild - but so nice because you don't have to haul all of your stuff for miles and miles!